Lost and Depraved
by lalapaloo
Summary: Vada Alexandre's lived a tough life. Will she ever be able to forget her past and accept love again? Musical. Story Rated T. first fic, so please R & R...let me know what you think!
1. The Tide

i don't own nothing! except for the arrangement of ideas :)  
All songs used are tweaked a little to fit the story

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_**(1889)**  
And there's three, count 'em-three  
Children playing on the beach.  
They were eager to learn,  
To be taught, and to teach

There's Veronica;  
She's biting her lip  
As she watches the waves turn white at the tip.  
And there's Dade;  
Radiating with joy,  
And luckily he still can't stand the sight of a girl.  
And lastly there's Vada;  
Her hair dances in the wind,  
And she's wondering what love is,  
And why it has to end.

And she can't understand  
How everyone goes on breathing when true love ends.  
Her mother whispers quietly;  
Heaven's not a place that you go when you die.  
It's that moment in life when you actually feel alive  
So live for the moment.  
And take this advice, live by every word,  
Love is just a hoax so forget anything that you have heard  
And live for the moment now.

**(1891)**  
And there's three, count 'em-three  
Children growing on the beach.  
They were eager to learn,  
To be taught, and to teach

There's Veronica;  
She's licking her lips  
As she waits for her real, first passionate kiss.  
And there's Dade;  
He can't admit his jealousy  
Of his best friend Flit and how everyone loves him.(and how they all love him)  
And lastly there's Vada;  
Still sitting on her rock,  
Ponders her life, and she skips her rocks.  
And she wonders when her father will return,  
But he's not coming back.

And she can't understand  
How everyone goes on breathing when true love ends.  
Her mother whispers quietly;  
Heaven's not a place that you go when you die,  
It's that moment in life when you actually feel alive,  
So live for the moment.  
And take this advice, live by every word,  
Love is just a hoax so forget everything that you have heard.

**(1893)**  
And there's three, count 'em-three  
Children missing from the beach.  
They were eager to learn,  
To be taught, and to teach.

But the sad thing  
Is that they never lived passed the age of thirteen  
Due to neglect from their mother  
Who was bed ridden by her ex-lover, their father.  
And she didn't even notice, or pay much attention  
As the tide came in and swept her three into the ocean.  
Now all her advice, it seems useless.

No, heaven's not a place that you go when you die.  
It's that moment in life when you touch her and feel alive.  
So live for the moment.  
And take this advice, live by every word,  
Love's completely real,  
So forget anything that you have heard,  
And live for the moment now.

The sound of everything ripping out from the ground is starting to grow faint, every sound for that matter too...Dade's screams to just hear my voice, I can hear Veronica calling out to Dade with panic in her voice...what is she saying? Grab on to the board? What board, how...I so badly wanted to know what game we were going to play now but no words would come out. I'm starting to feel wet and cold...am I in the water? But I was only playing in the shallows with Vera and Dade...Mama didn't like it when we would go into the water without her or Papi watching us...but that was before I guess. I opened my eyes only to see rippling waves all around me and our big house with it's black sand beach about the size of a quarter. How am I supposed to get back...I never learned how to swim...Papi never taught me and Mama doesn't know herself...how do I get back...what do I do now?!!?

"VADA!!!!!! VADA ANSWER MEE!! VAAAAAAADAAA!!!!!????!?!?!?!" I can hear Dade, and Veronica's faint cries.

"Daaade, I promise I didn't mean to go in by myself!" I yelled back to the grey swirling sky above me, while I heard Veronica screaming, "VADA!! SWIM THIS WAY HURRY BEFORE WE LOSE YOU AGAIN!!!

"But I can't swim...pa...papi" at this point I started to bawl, I can't swim and I can't see my sibilings anywhere...I can't see anything, it's all going black and it feels as if my heart is about to beat through my skin and my stomach come up through my mouth. In almost an instant somebody grabbed my little white flowered sand stained dress and held onto me tight while they tried so hard to swim.

"Busy, hold on...I've got you," with only the first word I knew it was Dade, only a few call me that...him and papi. "Veronica. Grab Busy. QUICK!" He was yelling something else too between mouthfulls of water but I couldn't hear him. Veronica lifted me up onto whatever she was floating on along with Dade.  
I tried so hard to open my eyes, "Vada what are you looking at?" Veronica asked me sounding worried, but less than when we were all split up. Why won't they open? Vera I'm not looking at anything, my eyes...they won't open. Her voice started to grow faint, and Dade's 10 louder...what is happening? I managed to get three words out of my mouth with the last little bit of energy I had left, "Everything is black..." and with that I started to fall asleep.

_"Manual Alexandre, where have you been this time? Hmm!? A "business meeting", "sale at the marketplace", or maybe some eldery lady needed your help "carrying her food home"?" Papi's head dropped and his eyes wandered to ground over to me._

_"Oh, Vada...uh...is this your rock baby?" Mama's smile looked fake, like Vera whenever Papi sent me and Dade outside with her to play on the beach. "Give me a second Gabriella, let me take our daughter's rock to the beach"  
I ran about 50 metres across our big patch of propert down the hill to our own piece of paradise...the black sand beach._

_"Papi, put it right here. So it's just a little in the water for the fairies to get water...oh oh oh, and underneath the tree shade so they don't get hot too!"_

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hope you liked the begining :)  
for future chapters i'm gonna add in a few new characters, so if ya want to see your own characters being used leave some information, just the usual stuff;  
Name:  
Age:  
Appearance:  
Nickname (w/meaning behind it):  
Personality: 

I may need to leave out some things or make minor changes...not all characters will be newsies.  
Thanks 3 don't forget to R & R!


	2. McKail Family

i don't own nothing! and again...hope you like :D ­

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"Busy, Busy!" Dade was screaming my name frantically as he shook me, "Vada if you don...don't wake up th...thi...this instant..." Veronica said weakly to me between sobs. 

"Papi...put it down quick...go get Dade and Vera. I want to show Dade and Vera it" I said wearily.

"No Busy it IS Dade and Vera! Wake up before you fall off." Dade can be quite loud when he wants to be. I open my eyes, "Where are we guys? Where's my rock?"

"Vada, wake up all the way. If you're not awake it's dangerous, we'll lose you again." Dade started to shake me more which fully woke me up.

"Where are we Dade?" I asked looking around...nothing but the waves starting to calm down and the black and grey which was in the sky being replaced by blue with white clouds.

"We're in the middle of the ocean Busy, but don't worry...we'll find someone soon." Dade reassured me, he didn't sound like he even believed it though.

Soon after Dade and Vera decided that they would rotate sleep watch turns as we floated across the water. It must've been hours later when I was woken up by the taste of dirt in my mouth. I shot up and started spitting out the dirt, bleh .. worst thing I've ever tasted.

"Wait a second ... OH MY GOODNESS, LAND! DADE, WE'RE ON LAND ... WAKE UP, WE'RE GONNA BE OKAY!" I yelled out excitedly. Dade had always been the first person I called out to when I'm being overwhelmed with any emotion, we've just always been extremely close. I'm just happy we can finally get home, but this might be a problem. As I looked around, Dade was missing ... only a crying Veronica was in front of me. A million and two thoughts must've rushed through my head the moment I saw Vera, all ending not so well for my brother.

"Vera, where's Dade!?!?" I yelled in panic as I stood up on weak legs and tried to run towards the near by forest, only to be hit by the cold dirty ground, my legs had given out underneath me.

"Vada, it's okay," Veronica slowly said between her small sobs quite calmly. "He's over there talking with that young boy. We can't make sense of anything he is saying." Veronica further explained the situation to me. The little boy, her tears, our location ... all that stuff. She was only crying because, like me, she immediately got up, ran away from the water and her legs gave out making her hit a large pointy rock very hard. There wasn't even any blood ... Veronica overreacts too much. It also seemed we were in Ireland...I think that Papi once told me that this place was all the way up and not attached to land, just like us. I was startled after a long silence of watching Dade try to figure out what the young blond haired boy was saying, when Veronica spoke up,

"I have no idea how we wound up here...the Acores isn't close to Ireland...it just isn't logical, we should be in the middle of the ocean right now. The tide pushed us in a way which it doesn't normally push. Currents don't push Portuguese waters straight to Ireland, I remember Papi told me so back when he was still with Mama and us.." Her voice lowered down to a whisper for the last few words. She doesn't need to be sensitive to me about that anymore, I'm almost all grown up, I'm nine years old.

We sat on the dirty bank and watched Dade try to understand the little boy was saying for a few more minutes, so far all we know is that Irish people are crazy and his name is Flit McKail. I know for a fact that he knows what we're saying because Papi taught us all so hard to speak English, he always said it would help us in the future and whenever he had business people over.

"Busy, Veronica, come here. I think he wants to bring us to his Daeemah...whatever that means...hopefully it'll help us." Dade said as he waved us over as the blond boy was nodding with a wide grin on his face.

"Dade, he must have been saying Dad and Mom...not Daeemah, that's not even a word." Vera explained matter-of-factly.

"Well ALL words coming out of his mouth aren't real words!" Dade threw up his hands in frustration. Me and Veronica just ignored him as Flit led us through the forest. We all wound up in front of a small white house (small compared to ours anyways) with a big red barn behind it, a girl around my age was sitting on the front porch,

"Flih, oo're eese uns ooo gah wih ya?"

Dade turned around to face Vera and me, we all just looked at each other confused and laughed, "Now you see what I've had to put up with."

That was probably the first time I had laughed since Dade, Johnny (his best friend) and me made a boat and sailed Vera's rag dolls into the ocean back when I was three...It's probably been just about that long for all of us.

"Flit! Bridget! Suppertime!" A man with a big bushy mustache stuck on a round face yelled from the front door. Why doesn't he sound funny too? "Oh, we've got company ... Eileen, set three more plates!"

Flit had told our story to his sister, then ran over and told it to his Da (I think that's what he called him) being interrupted by Bridget adding in words every here and there. Luckily their Da invited us all to eat because boy was I hungry. It felt like years since we last ate.

Over the course of dinner a shaky Veronica had spilled out our whole life story to the McKail's speaking in and out of Portuguese (she does that a lot when she's emotional). Ryan (Flit and Bridget's Da) assessed with his wife Eileen what they were to do and explained it all to us, "Well, you see kids, I'm from New York, Queen's to be more specific ... ever heard of it?"

We all shook our heads, a Queen isn't a place. He continued anyways, "I know a few people over there, and I think I could arrange for you three to live with them while you look for your dad in Harl..."

"Papi's gone, he doesn't love Mama and us anymore. Mama told me!" I interrupted creating quite the awkward moment for us all. Ryan cleared his throat, "Didn't I hear something from your sister Veronica about how Papi writes to you guys sometimes twice a month? I'm sure he still loves you." I softened my expression a little. "How about your Mom, where does she live exactly?" Only Veronica would answer, "She lives at our big home on Portugal's third island." With this Eileen's face saddened and she whispered something in her husband's ear, he spoke up, "Well you see kids, there's not ships going to the islands except from the homeland..." he paused a moment to let us take in the information. "There's conflict going on right now between Portugal and Spain, land conflict ... which means nobody will be allowed to cross any borders any time soon ... " He finished, waiting for our reactions. Ryan was given two blank expressions from Vera and Dade, but mine was more along the lines of a grumpy grandma.

"Ooo tree awh 'ecome ta s'ay heah fa..." Started Eileen, probably the only words she's said outloud the whole evening ... she seemed a bit odd, but Veronica started to take charge and cut her off, " Okay, then we can get on a ship and go off to New York to live with your friends until we find Papi. Then we can live with him until we're allowed to cross Portuguese borders again, then he can take us home!" Veronica finished with a smile.

" Then it's settled! You three can live with us and work on the farm for money for your tickets. Once you get there you can live with my brother's family." Ryan said happily.

"Is your brother nice?" I asked. Ryan looked down and so did the rest of his family, oh no ... why do I always ask the wrong questions.

"Ian was a great man, but ... a few years ago he passed away," Ryan paused but shook it off. "His family is great though. His wife, Mrs.. Kaylee McKail, she may seem a little strict at times but she'll warm up to you, Katherine Rose McKail ... I think she's about eleven right now ... oh well, you'll just love her she's very sweet and you'll find her lots of fun. Oh and there's Gordon, he may drop in periodically to check up on Katherine, they're twins, he and Mrs. Kaylee don't get along to well...but don't you worry about that. I'll write to her and see what she says. It may take just about a week ... oh my it's getting late, Flit, Bridget show Dade, Veronica and Vada to the guest room." He finished.

"Thank you for everything Ryan, Eileen." Veronica said sleepily while me and Dade just nodded, wiping ours eyes. It sure was getting late.

"Don't worry about a thing. Just remember, we start our day bright and early. Breakfast is at 6:30, good night." Ryan finished with a smile as we began to follow Flit and Bridget who ran out of the kitchen and up some stairs. When we caught up with them they were standing outside of a room in the middle of two others. Bridget opened the door and said goodnight to us and her and Flit each ran to one of the rooms beside ours.

"Things can only get better for us." Veronica said ending it with a yawn. The three off us lazily kicked off our shoes and flopped down on the large bed. Veronica seemed to have fallen asleep immediately because I could hear her light snores, it didn't seem that Dade was asleep yet.

"Dade?" I had so many questions that I wanted answered, that falling asleep was the last thing on my mind.

"Yea Busy ... what is it?" He sounded as if he was already asleep and was unaware of the words coming out of his mouth. I didn't want to bug him, he'd been on lookout for most of our horrible floating.

"Never mind, goodnight." I said slowly as I slid quietly out of the bed, put my shoes back on and crept to the large window which was grabbing my attention. I moved the thick heavy curtain covering it and stared out and got lost in thought. There was a small balcony on it just like the Dade's window at home, just the sight of it made me relaxed. Dade would always sneak me to it at night and tell me the most wonderful stories as we listened to the soothing sound of the tide hitting the beach and were surrounded by the soft clean smell of ocean air as we looked up at the stars. That was the only good part about night, shortly after the stories were interrupted every time by Papi. He got so angry whenever Dade would sneak me out of my room to go out on his balcony. Papi would yell and yell at us, he used to be red in the face, all wet, out of breath ... and always smelled like "his special drink" as Mama called it. That man was not MY Papi, Papi only came in the morning when we'd go on walks or play at the beach together. The man at night was called the Badman, he was mad at me and Dade all the time at night and would be sure to let us know it. Every time it would happen, after about the first twenty times I knew this man was definitely NOT my Papi. Papi would never hurt his Busy or his Dade like this, so I would just close my eyes and remember my morning Papi, my real Papi, reading his book as we sat by my rock ... waiting for the fairies.

Without knowing what I was doing, I had opened the window, slid through it to the small balcony and closed the curtain and window behind me. The first night away from home at the McKail's house I slept in that spot (I love that word ... spot ... makes me feel like I'm safe and relaxed, like i'm with my real Papi or Dade) with nothing but the clothes on my back and my shoes under my head. This week might not be so bad here at all.

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there's chapter two :) i'm hoping to be posting up chapter three later today, i'm stuck watching my little brother for the day so there's more time for writing (thumbs up)

thanks for reading, don't forget to review!


	3. New York Arrival

I don't own nothing! I told ya I'd post chapter three :) when you're all finished reading, let me know what you think with a little thing I like to call "a review"...yes I know, quite the glamorous word so it's to your advantage to take part in it :P

all fantastic songs used are a little tweaked to fit the story

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I slowly woke up to the smell of breakfast being waved in my face and the sound or birds chirping away. It had been a whole week since my first night sleeping here in my spot, just the thought of that wonderful word makes me smile. Dade was sitting in front of me, cross legged, waiting with breakfast for me and him.

" 'Morning Starshine," Dade held the plate in front of my face and I grabbed a handful of bacon. "You ready for today? Eileen and Veronica are packing up everything we'll need on our trip."

"Our ship leaves in two hours right?" I asked, Dade gave me a nod and added, "Ryan is gonna take us to the docks in an hour so we can get s good spot." He smirked at that last word, as it made me smile. Dade knows my love for the word, whenever I'm angry, sad, stressed or trapped that word makes me feel relaxed and free.

Me and Dade finished up the remainder of the eggs, bacon and random vegetables on our plate, and ventured downstairs to the barn to earn a few extra dollars before we leave.

"KATHERINE! PUT THESE SHEETS BACK ON THE BED! YOUR BROTHER, god save him, WILL BE BACK SHORTLY BEFORE DINNER!" Mrs. Kaylee screeched at her daughter from the kitchen. The two of them had been cleaning the house all day, getting ready for the arrival of these Alexandre children. Mrs. Kaylee wanted everything perfect so she could give the newcomers a good impression of her home. She also instructed Gordon to stay far away from them at all times so he doesn't corrupt them, except for of course the pick up of the kids, there was no way that Mrs. Kaylee would be found anywhere near those filthy Brooklyn docks where they would be arriving at.

"Well it would be going MUCH faster if we still had MOLLY!" Katherine yelled back from the spare room where Veronica and Vada would be staying, she hadn't yet made it to Gordon's old room where Dade would be sleeping. Normally Katherine would never even imagine speaking to her mother this way, but ever since her father had passed away their family has been less fairytale and me nightmare. Gordon was never liked much by his mother, but his path in life just gave her a reason to throw him out. Once Mr. Ian McKail had died, money was hard to come by because the government was keeping a strong grip on the money Ian had left to his family, meals came in smaller portions and less often. Katherine had never been the larger one among girls, so her body didn't take well to the lack of food, Gordon couldn't accept his once radiant, loyal, happy-go-lucky sister becoming dull. He would secretly run off to Brooklyn with his cousin, Cillian and sell newspapers for money to feed him and his sister better. Mrs. Kaylee found out one day because their old old OOOLLLDD maid Francie ratted out Gordon for a dollar when Mrs. Kaylee asked where her son had been venturing off to. Little did Francie know that her telling on Gordon would get her nothing but a shove out the door, "YOU ARE A FILTHY LIAR! YOU ARE FIRED!" . Mrs. Kaylee locked all the doors and windows, locked Katherine in her room and threw all Gordon's things out onto the road before any of this. She wouldn't have anything to do with him for a year, and is barely tolerant of him to this day. She said it was a disgrace to their family name to be running around with that sort.

"I DON'T LIKE MAIDS! THEY LIE, STEAL AND BACK SASS SO MUCH THEY ARE JUST ASKING TO BE FIRED! JUST BE THANKFUL I CAN NOT FIRE FAMILY!" Mrs. Kaylee snapped.

"Oh, riiiight, instead of firing family you just send them away to abusive boarding schools from August-June!" At this time Katherine was starting to lose her temper for the first time in her life."OR YOU DECIDE TO KICK THEM OUT WHEN THEY'RE HELPING YOUR DYING ONLY DAUGHTER! DAD WOULD HAVE NEVER WANTED GORDON KIC ..."

"YOU HOLD YOUR TONGUE RIGHT THIS SECOND KATHERINE ROSE CONLON MCKAIL!" With that last screechy sentence Mrs. Kaylee slammed the kitchen door shut and continued to clean the rest of the room.

Meanwhile, Gordon McKail was standing at the Brooklyn docks waiting for the Alexandre kids with his friend Bolt.

"Are these kids gonna be here soon, I'm bored. Plus I still have like five more 'papes to sell." Bolt complained while bobbing up and down before she ran off to the very edge of the docks.

"FINAAAAAAAALLY! There's their boat, I swear if I had to wait any longer than this I would've had a little something I'd like to show that captain." She finished her sentence with some fighting moves, a few jabs, kicks, followed by a roll on the ground and started pretending that she was wrestling someone. Many people around them just stared with disgust that a girl was in such a position as hers. In the proper eye, girls should have their hair in high buns and long dresses sipping tea...Bolt was the complete opposite. She had her hair in a low ponytail that reached her shoulder blades with a beat up newscap thrown on her head which was nothing compared to the rest of her. Bolt had a pretty nice body, she kept it in shape by all her fighting and sparring with others, but the most controversial part of her was her clothing ... a dirtied black and white, plaid, button up t-shirt accompanied by jet black boots and light brown shorts which went passed her knees, being held up by dark brown suspenders. Gordon, or Shadow as he was called, thought it was a shame that such a beautiful girl had chosen to dress like a boy. Whenever everyone gets cleaned up for parties in Manhattan his favorite transformation is definitely Bolt's, she loses the hat, lets down her shiny sand colored hair which brings out her bright ocean blue eyes.

"Shadow, are you even listening to me?!?! THE BOAT HAS DOCKDOCKDOCKDOCKDOCKED!!!!!" Boy was she sure full of energy.

"You know Bolt, you could be selling those last 'papes to the many people surrounding us." Shadow laughed as Bolt's face turned from full of excitement to one hit by common sense.

"That might just work ... okay, I'll the last five or so I have and meet you back at this red pole." Bolt pointed to the red pole which Shadow was leaning on and ran off into the crowd yelling headlines. Shadow just shook his head and laughed. It took about fifteen minutes before he found three kids who could easily be them. Judging by height he'd say the age order went Girl, Boy, Girl plus they all looked like they could be Spanish or whatever his mother said they were.

**(back to Vada's POV)**

A dirty looking boy around Dade's age walked up to us and held out his hand to Vera, "Hey, I'm Gordon ... McKail, you can call me Shadow. My mother sent me to get you guys and bring you back to her place in Queens. Just come over here for a sec, I gotta find my friend." His eyes started scanning the crowd. He must've found the person he was looking for because his squinting face turned into a big smile. Gord ... I mean Shadow waved the person over.

"This here's Bolt, she's a newsie just like me." Shadow introduced the dirty, pretty looking girl with a wide smile to us. She seemed nice so I felt like introducing myself to her too, "These are my older siblings Vera and Dade, I'm Vada but you can call me Busy." I felt special having a nickname too.

"What's Vera short for?" The Bolt girl asked curiously.

"It's short for Veronica." Vera answered, her sentence closely followed by another question from Bolt, "Your names are odd, Veronica, Dade, Vada ... those don't sound Spanish at all, why is that?"

"Um, we're actually Portuguese, but that's okay. Our names aren't very traditional because our Papi traveled a lot and fell in love these names." Dade said, who was thrown another bold question this time from Shadow, "Cool, how old are you guys?"  
This Shadow guy was really different looking than any other boy I've seen. He had light brown moppy hair which covered his bright forget-me-not blue eyes, backgrounded his lightly tanned skin. Then again, most boys I've ever met looked a little like Dade. Olive tanned skin, brown eyes with round heads. Dade is different though, he has big round royal blue eyes, just like our avo (grandpa). My thoughts were interrupted by Dade's answer, "Busy's 9, Veronica's 13 and I'm 11."

"That's so cool, we're 11 too!" Bolt was nudged in the side, "What!? I'll be 11 in a month so..." She stuck out her tongue, Shadow rolled his eyes and Me, Vera and Dade all laughed.

"We better be getting home, if we walk fast we can make it in time for dinner." Shadow told us. Bolt's face grew into the biggest smile I've ever seen and she started running, " Race ya!"  
Dade, and Veronica were the first to follow her. Shadow rolled his eyes then looked at me, grabbed my hand and broke into a smile, "C'mon Busy, we'd better run extra fast to catch up!"

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woah, there's quite the conflict arising. I'd like to thank ktkakes and brooklynator.dawn for their fantabulous characters Katherine and Eli 

and I'll accept more characters if ya wanna give em :)


	4. Let It Be

I don't own nothing! Woah it's taken a while to get this sucker up, I went from vacation in florida to straight to school and then back on the road to Massachusetts. I'm so glad I have time to do something other than essays and projects! so hopefully sometime in my busy schedule I''ll be able to post more chapters.  
weeell I hope you like it :)

all fantastic songs used are a little tweaked to fit the story

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"We're about half an hour away, so we'll be there in time for you to have dinner." Shadow said to me as we all switched from running to walking.

"Wait, you two aren't staying with us?" I asked. Bolt snorted at my question.

"Me and Bolt don't usually talk with my ma, we only go over to visit Katherine every now and again. Sometimes I go with other friends, Spades, Pocket or my cousin." Apparently I still looked confused because he continued, "You see Busy, we're what you call 'newsies'. We sell newspapers in certain boroughs to locals for money, we usually live together in rented out buildings or lodging houses. They're cheap and roomy, perfect for our type of lifestyles." Shadow finished with a smile that showed he clearly loves what he does.

"Oh." This explanation from Shadow seemed to spark my curiosity, "Why don't you talk to your mama? Does that mean she's mean? Will she maybe not like me and Dade or even Veronica? We're good, we used to clean up our house ALL THE TIIIME! We can clean yours, do you have a big house too like us, or a medium one like your relatives we were with ... or maybe a small one? Do you have fun being a newsie? Is it easy, or maybe hard ... do you do anything besides selling? Becauuuuse that's boring, I'd go and play all day. Do you guys play too?" I finished once I felt all my questions we out. I think Shadow forgot which ones I asked first because he gave a confused look to Veronica and Dade, but Bolt seemed to be thinking hard.

"He doesn't get along with his ma cause of family issues, yea she's an old hag ... but she might be nice to you guys and like ya if you guys help out and don't give lip. Shadow's house is on the big size I guess, four bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, sitting area, dining room ... rather snazzy." Bolt started as she stopped for a big breath, clearly not finished yet, "Hell yes being a newsie is fun, of course we sell during the day, which is fun, but the most fun happens at night. Stories, games, poker, parties, drinking, dancing ... it's GREAT! I love the freedom, none of that richie life, pfft."

As we continued walking to our new home, I told everyone how I wanted to be a newsie too, but both Bolt and Shadow said that Mrs. Kaylee would have no such thing.

"Mother! I'm done with the dinner, the table is set and don't worry the rest of the house is just shining with impeccableness!" Katherine shouted annoying to her mother who was running around the house making sure everything was perfect to set a good impression.

"Katherine, impeccableness is NOT a word. Remember, I don't spend all that money on that boarding school you go to for nothing!" Katherine mouthed along the reminder, heard many times before, as Mrs. Kaylee finally stopped and stood by the front door, "Here they come, put the dinner on the table! How many times have I told that boy not to bring his 'friends' around here!"

Katherine rolled her eyes as she obeyed her mother's orders and started setting the table, excitedly since she hadn't been allowed to see her brother in a month.

"There's your new home sweet home. You'll all be fine as long as you don't speak unless spoken to, and don't worry when she ignores me." Shadow let us know and Bolt added, "Oh and don't bring up anything about newsies ... to avoid any, um, argument."

Just as Shadow reached for the handle, the door was opened by what could only be Mrs. Kaylee, who pushed her way passed Shadow and Bolt straight to us.

"Hello, you three must be the Alex-and-ree children. Of course you are, please come in, supper is ready and on the table. My daughter Katherine is inside, she'll be eating with us also." She said as she ushered us three into the house, "Gordon and ... "

"Bolt." Bolt finished

"Yes, right. If you both would like, you may eat with us this evening." Mrs. Kaylee forced out as nicely as possible, but she still sounded rude. Regardless, the two came into the house to eat with us.

"So, Alex-and-ree children ... I'm sorry but could you each refresh me of your names?" Asked Mrs. Kaylee as we all followed her into the kitchen.

"Um ... actually, Mrs. Kaylee ... it's not pronounced Alex-and-ree ... it's more like, A-la-zsh-ond." At this comment of mine Mrs. Kaylee stopped dead in her tracks ... OH NO! I forgot, no lip! Oh no, oh no. I looked around to see the reactions of Bolt, Shadow and what I guessed to be Katherine. They all had wide eyes with tightly shut mouths staring at Mrs. Kaylee who still hadn't moved an inch. I hope she doesn't kick me out right this minute and I'll be left on the street alone without my siblings and everyone will hate me and I will NEVER find Papi and then I can never get home and I'll never get money and I'll starve before I can even get a job. It felt like I was ranting to myself for hours when in actuality was only a second or two. Oh no! She's turning around ... she's looking at me ... that vein in her temple area doesn't look friendly. That was a nasty thought and definitely won't help me in this situation.

"Oh smallest Alex-and-ree child, you see ... it's not appropriate or polite to talk back to your elders, especially as rudely as that. Tsk tsk. I'm going to have to talk to Father Francis about whether or not I can enroll you in Katherine's school and do something about that, that attitude. Yes, that's what I'll do. Katherine darling, could you please cover my plate for when I get home, I'm going to go out and see what I can do about this, 'situation'." Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no...no...no attitude, I didn't mean it rudely! Oh dear, what am I going to do, I know I wouldn't be able to keep my big mouth shut! And now look what she's going to do I'm going to ... wait, school! I've always wanted to go to school, yes I'm quite educated, but only from Papi. A real school! With real teachers and lessons and work! I'm so excited, good job big mouth!

"I'll be back later tonight, Gordon ... girl. You two should be gone when I get back, it'll be late then." Mrs. Kaylee flashed a look what could have easily been mistaken for some sort of glare as she whooshed out of the kitchen, down the hall and out the door as she grabbed her coat.

"Is th...that...bad?" I asked, scared of the answer. I just prayed I mistook that face, please god. I slowly walked to the table with my siblings and sat the same time as the three others.

"Um, don't worry about it. She's not as bad as you think." Katherine paused for a moment, "Okay, yes she is, if it makes you feel any better, you would have been sent there anyways eventually. Let's not worry about that now, just eat supper and get to know each other." She finished with a smile that just lit up her entire face. I didn't notice it at first, but she was really pretty. Waist-length brown curly hair, about the same height as Dade, ever so slightly tanned skin (probably from outdoor work) and she has one eye of green and one of blue ... strange.

"Does that mean that my brother and I will be going to?" Veronica piped up from the other side of the table.

"Well you see ... it's an all girls catholic boarding school ... so, Dade will be staying here." Katherine's smile faded once she looked at me. I've never been somewhere without my brother before. It's always me and him, him and me. Sure I've spent some time away, but I've hated every second of it. I feel sad lonely, and I think when I said how I felt to Veronica once, she said the other word to describe how I felt was 'vulnerable', I still don't know what that means but it doesn't sound fun that's for sure.

"Don't worry Busy, he can visit everyday. I sure do whenever Katherine's there, sometimes Bolt or my cousin tag along too. Just as long as you do what you're told." Shadow started explaining with a smile but it quickly disappeared once the last sentence passed his lips.

"What happens when you don't do what you're told?" Dade said rather defensively. Both Katherine and Shadow shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Bolt caught on and decided to steer conversation else where,

"Katherine, did we introduce ya all? This here's Veronica, Dade and Vada ... or just call her Busy." She pointed to each of us followed by her stuffing a chicken leg into her mouth.

"Nice to meet you all." Katherine responded with that smile again.

"Hey, Bolt ... what's your real name?" I asked curiously as Dade shot me one of his "Busy, you're too curious for your own good" looks.

"Nunyo." Bolt replied nonchalantly. What kind of a name is Nunyo ... she doesn't look Japanese. She obviously saw the looks of confusion on me, Dade and Vera's face because she went into further explanation,

"Nunyo, as in ... it's nunyo business. Us newsies gotta keep our names a secret, it's a part of the whole aloof stealth newsiness."

"It's Eli." Shadow told us while Bolt jokingly hit him.

"Gee thanks a lot ruin my moment! Now everybody will from now on call me Eli and Bolt will be lost for ever, I'm going to have to wear dresses and go to afternoon teas and be some sort of stuck up richie who is forced to marry an equally rich man who's sooooooo ugly ... as ugly as ... YOU!" Bolt ranted, shaking her arms around very dramatically as we all laughed.

"Now calm down Bolt ..." Dade started, joining in on the fun.

"ELI!"

"Okay, Eli, there's nothing to worry about because there is NO WAY anyone could resemble that hideous face which he bares"

"I have almost no clue what you just said ... but I LIKE YOU'RE ATTITUDE!" Bolt yelled as she pounced at Dade, tackling him into a crazy hug.

"Do whatever you want Bolt, I just want him in one piece by the end of the night, got me?" Vera giggled. Bolt lifted her head and saluted to Veronica,

"Yes 'Mam!" she rolled off of Dade and stood up, "I'm bored, and full, let's go play outside! They have a crazy backyard!"

Dade got up and chased after her, "You better run, because you'll be sorry so jumping on me when I'M through with you!"

The remaining four of us watched out the big back window for a few moments as Dade chased Bolt right into a tree.

"Aw, young love." Shadow chuckled.

"They're basically the same age as you." Katherine said while the rest of us burst into fits of laughter because Bolt fell right on top of Dade and then started chasing him with a big branch she got from the top of the tree.

Shortly after, Bolt and Dade came back inside we all helped Katherine clean up the food along with some of the kitchen. After that, we slowly made our ways upstairs where Katherine showed Vera and me to a guest bedroom and Dade to Shadow's old room.

"You guys all try and get to sleep as quickly as possible, I'm going to do the same. This way, my mother can't bother us until the morning." We nodded as she continued, "I put some of my clothes in the bureau for you guys to use. Knowing my mother thought, she'll most likely drag the four of us out tomorrow for school uniforms and Dade you'll probably be carrying."

"Weeeell, me and Bolt betta be headin off, it's gettin late." The two started to walk off, "Oh yeah, Dade there might be some clothes of mine under the squeaky floorboard by the window. I had to come here and hide some of my extra things there so the crazy woman wouldn't throw them away once I left."

"Okay, thanks. Bolt ... are you going to come back with Shadow later too?" Dade asked hopefully.

"Ooooh yeah, and you better watch yourself. I'll get'cha for sure next time." Bolt laughed as she ran out the door.

"Oh, wait! Don't forget to drag that stubborn cousin of ours here, I have to talk to him still." Katherine added, Shadow nodded and ran off after Bolt.

We all said out good-nights and thank you's and went our separate ways. The room Veronica and I have to stay in isn't that bad. Smaller than my room back home, but it's okay. Light brown walls, a medium sized bed with a night stand, small stool by the big window draped by long thick dark brown striped curtains. I wondered what kind of view this window had so I walked up to it and pushed my way through the curtains. Great ... that tree. I don't get any sort of view because a tree is in my way? This isn't any fun. Boring!

"Vada, come to bed. I think I just heard the door open and close, Mrs. Kaylee must be back.." Vera said to me as she went through the bureau of Katherine's things, "Here, this night gown looks like it could fit you." I walked on over, took the gown, put it on and climbed into the bed.

"Vera?" I asked, the whole school thing bumping around in my head. She answered as if reading my thoughts,

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. We'll get our uniforms tomorrow and we always do what we're told so we'll be okay. It might even be a bit fun, you've always wanted to go to a real school"

"I guess so ... okay. Boa noite, I love you."

"Good-night, love you too."

_Why isn't Dade in his bed? I thought to myself._

_I had searched all over our house for him, Papi came home about an hour ago and caught me and Dade telling stories on my balcony area. Papi home again, to I don't know where ... all I know is my real Papi will be back tomorrow morning. I sat curled up on my bed with my stuffed monkey, Banana Sam, for at least half an hour, I guess he must have left the house because I couldn't find him anywhere._

_I slowly made my way to my small balcony spot, mmmm, and peered over the edge, scanning the back yard for any sign of my brother...I think I see him down on my rock. I slid myself down our long staircase, Sam still in hand, tip toed to the kitchen and out the back door. As I made my way across our back lawn, I could hear Dade whispering something to himself. The closer I got the more I could make out the words..._

_When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,  
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.  
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,  
speaking words of wisdom, let it be. _

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.  
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,  
there will be an answer, let it be.  
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,  
there will be an answer. let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.  
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,  
shine until tomorrow, let it be.  
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,  
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.  


_Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.  
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.  
Let it be, let it be, ..._

"_Dade..." He whipped around so fast I was surprised that his neck didn't crack. I handed him my Banana Sam, "It's okay, just wait and see."_

"_Yeah ... sure it will be Busy."_

* * *

you like? lemme know ... it's called a REV-EEE-OOOO :P 

I'ma try and post more chapters this week, I don't have much work does a little dance, involving some foul language about school with flips and cartwheels WOOT! oh man...I'm hungry...okay, I'll get started on that next chapter AFTER I eat :D


	5. There was a rat!

don't own nothing! Sick day today, so I slept all day and now I'll be up aaaaaaaaaaaall night ... writing, just for y'all :D

The other chapters shouldn't take very long to post, I was song searching today and when I'd write it all down I'd write small sentences so I'd remember what idea followed the song and I ended up writing at least a chapters worth for 3 songs...lol. yay me? of course :P

aaaaany whooo, here goes nothing. hope you like very much,  
and again  
all fantastic songs used are a little tweaked to fit the story

* * *

"Wake up! Wake up! We need to hurry before the rain comes you two lazy girls!" Mrs. Kaylee screeched as she tore open our curtains to let in some light.

I almost forgot about being here and I definitely forgot about school shopping. Blah.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry Mrs. Kaylee. Vada and I will be up and dressed in no later than 5 minutes, is that okay?" Veronica bolted up from the bed and frantically started getting ready, not wanting to get on her bad side while I laid in bed and tried to get some more sleep. The bed was so comfortable, I felt as if I was sleeping on a cloud.

"Actually, Veronica, Breakfast will be ready in five minutes, so that is perfect. Straight after breakfast we will be right off to find you both appropriate school supplies. Is that understood?" Mrs. Kaylee said quite uptightly as she left the room without an answer. Normally I never make up inappropriate words to be mean to others, but I feel Mrs. Kaylee will be a definite exception.

"Vera, I don't want to go to that school. I don't have a good feeling about it at all." I whined slightly to my sister, again ... another first.

"Vada, it's okay, we are both going together. Plus, it is a catholic school, what is the worst they could do? I don't mind rulers all that much, they help me measure." Veronica said, trying to make me feel a bit better. She's not as good at it as Dade is, but at least she's trying. I put on a smile and responded, "We better get down to breakfast before our five minutes are up."

"I think we're at four! RUN!" Veronica shouted as she threw on a pair of shoes and ran out the door. Of course, I chased after her until, "YOU TWO BETTER NOT BE RUNNING IN MY HOUSE! HOPEFULLY THAT SCHOOL WILL TEACH YOU MANNERS!"

"Our safest bet would be to walk down into the kitchen, isn't it?" Veronica asked me.

"Not with that rat chasing us!" I giggled pointing to the nonexisting rat on the ground as I began to run again, this time Veronica followed.

We made our way into the kitchen screaming and running as if something was chasing us.

"WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU TWO?!?!?" Mrs. Kaylee screeched yet once again, probably not for the last time for the day either.

"THERE WAS A RAT!" Veronica started as Mrs. Kaylee eyed her suspiciously so I added in, "YES IT IS TRUE! IT WAS A BIG SCARY RAT! IT CHASED US FROM OUR ROOM AND DOWN THE STAIRS! I THINK IT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR ..."

"Well, if that is so ... we better finish up our breakfast quick and go out the back door for shopping." Hahaha, she actually BELIEVED US!

"You said the rat started chasing you from your room, yes" We both nodded as we sat down and began to fill our plates , "That means that MUST be where it is living. When we go out for your supplies, I will give Katherine the money for your purchases and she will go with you three while I go talk with the school to see if there is anything we can do to get you in there early. To avoid any sickness, of course."

I immediately summed up '_SEE! I TOLD YOU THE SCHOOL WAS BAD AND WE WON'T HAVE ANY FUN AND MRS. KAYLEE IS AN EVIL MONSTER WOMAN! DID YOU SEE THAT LOOK!??!_' in a look shot straight towards Veronica, she caught it and 'Thank you, very much Mrs. Kaylee' is all Veronica said.

All five of us finished our breakfast quite fast and exited through the back door, as instructed. Then while Mrs. Kaylee hurried left, Katherine, Veronica, Dade and me went right, to the center of Queens by crossing a small bridge over a stream in the more forest populated area. It was a quite enjoyable walk actually, which is a bit ironic since we're walking to our DOOM and there's nothing we can do because there's no CURE FOR IRONY now is there?!?

In half an hour we finally arrived at the center, we started off at a book store to pick up such things as paper, ink and books on our school list Katherine made the previous night before bed. After that we walked into a various variety of stores (not buying ... just for leisure) like a cake store, instrument, drug store and a really fancy clothing one too. So far our trip had been about two hours and finished as soon as we bought our uniforms, shiny black shoes with a soft material for the clothing in about FIFTY pieces; ONE navy blue outside/beige inside hat that looked as if it belonged to a painter, ONE navy sweater with beige buttons, ONE beige poofy dress with navy stitching/pockets/buttons and the other FORTY-SEVEN pieces were all under the stupid dress, frilly things and looooooooots of layers which must've weighed more than I do! Anyways, me and Veronica both got all those each because Katherine still fitted into her last year dress. Just to make Dade feel better, since we made him carry most of our things, we bought him a dark brown hat just like shadow had that he was looking at, with the rest of Mrs. Kaylee's money (Katherine's idea). We were almost home, maybe five minutes away because once again we were walking over that small bridge, when Dade asked me if I'll miss him when we go,

"Will you miss me?" I asked back curiously, "Because I'll miss you more than you know."

"I'll come visit every other day, every day if I can. I can come with Shadow and we can all see each other." Dade said, making me feel a little bit better about the whole thing.

"Actually, Dade ... they don't let in visitors unless they're with an adult and I doubt my mother's going to take you so you can come when Shadow does, right before supper when we do room cleaning and our 'homework'." Katherine let us know quietly which just made me sad again.

She must've seen my face drop into utter sadness because she began talking again about how much her and Shadow see each other and still are happy and have fun, just to make me feel better. The four of us walked into the door and were met by a oddly happy looking Mrs. Kaylee,

"Good news girls!" she started with a smile I could tell was more for her than us as she led us down the hall and into the kitchen for lunch, "You are allowed to move into the school tonight before dinner and eat there because of our 'condition'. Is that not wonderful?!"

Dade nearly chocked on the food he started to eat, all ready on the table for us, which caused Mrs. Kaylee to notice him for the first time today.

"Poor boy, you best be caref ..." She started but cut herself off and replaced those words with a disgusted and very angry face as she pointed at his hat, "What. Is. That. And. Why. Is. It. In. My. HOUSE?"

Dade just then remembered he liked the hat so much because he saw a similar one on her son which she wasn't on best terms with, "Um, I ... er ... bought it with ... some of my own money." Mrs. Kaylee threw him a real nasty look that cause him to jump out of his seat and upstairs to put his hat away, then came back down to finish eating.

"That is MUCH better. Young boys in such good living conditions as you should definitely not wear such an article of clothing." She said as she sipped her drink.

The rest of the meal continued on much like that moment, us doing something not to her standards and she'd scold us something fierce, and then ended when we all went our separate ways pretty much. Dade went to unpack and settle in, Veronica and Katherine cleaned up lunch and went to pack for when we'd be leaving, Mrs. Kaylee went off to her close friend the O'Connor's for drinks or something like that (she'd be back in time to take us) leaving me to do as I pleased because I knew Veronica would pack for me. To pass some time I walked around, looking for something to do to calm my nerves ... only one problem, it had started to rain despite the shining bright sun and strong heat. Never mind that nonsense, I can make time go by like no problem, they don't call me Busy for nothing. As I sat down on the front porch of the more miserable Mckail home my mind began to drift onto a certain blue eyed boy I had met earlier today. The four of us were walking from a small desert store to the toy store where my heart desired when I bumped into a boy walking around fast shouting out what I guessed were headlines. Right away he grabbed my hand to make sure I didn't fall over, looked at me for a split moment with his electric blue eyes and told me how sorry he was. Then he looked to Katherine where his eyes grew wide and a smile was plastered on his face, this I found out after was Katherine and Shadow's cousin ... I never did catch his name, but boy did he have the most beautiful eyes I have EVER seen. And I've seen A LOT of eyes, let me tell you that much.

I stood up from the porch and began to wander around, despite the rain, I needed something to do ...

_[Vada_  
_It rained  
I went outside  
Lay down in the middle of the road  
Closed tight my eyes wondering just how it would feel  
To fly when I die and I _

Slowly drifted out  
of my body up into the clouds  
Where I looked back down on all that I was  
And I started to wonder what I'd miss  
And I

Wished you were here  
I wished you were here  
I wished you were here  
Cause I just don't think I'll ever get over you

Well the night shifted hues as  
I counted stars the way you taught me to  
Shuffling through all of the faces  
And the places in my life and I just

Kept on sinking in  
till I fell out of my skin, plop  
I tumbled into some kind of altered point of view  
Where I could see clearly what I need  
And I

Wished you were here  
I wished you were hereI wished you were here  
Cause I just don't think I'll ever, I could wait for you forever  
Cause I just don't think I'll ever get over you  
Over youuu

* * *

hellllllllloooooo peoplesss! if you like where i'm going, or would prefer if i really would rather, um, NOT ... then let me know. you know the drill ;)

next chapter should be up before the end of next week. i won't be able to write as much as i would like to though because i have to work friday night, saturday morning, theeeeen I'm going to HALLOWE'EN HAUNT AT CANADA'S WONDERLAND!! MUAHAHAH, good times there, seriously...last year was wicked. but hopefully i'll be able to write some more maybe instead of homework during the week? heh heh heeeh. stupid school. pfft. oh well, i must be off, maybe write more chapters instead of long author's notes...that miiight just work!

PCE, hope you liked this one :)


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